Christmas past, present and yet to come

No matter how many times you're told that "Christmas is all about the kids", I think this is the first year where I truly appreciated the truism. Scarlett was clearly oblivious to the entire event but Luc had a blast. Perhaps somewhat surprisingly though, the highlight for me was not seeing his face when he realised that Santa Claus had eaten the cookie and drunk the milk left out for him nor was it watching his eyes light up each time he opened one of his dozens of car themed gifts.

Instead highlights were provided by moments such as when Luc literally danced in the aisle of the church during the Christmas Eve carol service as well as him insisting on placing a tacky, plastic miniature Christmas tree underneath the big tree because "that's its mummy and it has to be near her" (sniff, sniff).

I can't wait until next Christmas!

Mini Mouse

Luc has become an expert YouTube user. First we have to type in his search criteria (usually 'monster truck crash'!!) after that he's on his own. He impresses me with his ability to scroll down the screen to pick from the selection offered and he even knows how to drag the pointer to find his favorite part of the movies.

Scarlett is also beginning to see the attraction of the computer mouse although I think her motivation might be slightly different.

The 'ber' months

In the UK a 'ber' month would be when the weather starts to get colder. Here in the Philippines though (where it never gets cold) the expression is used to describe the last four months of the year (get it?). The first 'ber' month each year is significant because an unwritten rule says that stores can now begin to play Christmas tunes.

This phenomenon has unfailingly irritated the hell out of me for the past 5 years. This year however, I have somehow been doused with Christmas spirit unusually early which I attribute to being a fun side-effect of having a kid who's old enough to get excited about the old fat guy in the red suit!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This will be the first Thanksgiving for a while that we haven't spent in the US with family. Still, we will be feasting on some bird and all the appropriate fixin's. Happy turkey day to everyone!

Caption Contest

Scarlett went to play with some friends today. Here they are chilling on the couch while we mums went out for a boozy lunch ... (just kidding).

What do you think was going through her mind though? Give me your suggestions in a comment!

Our baby's growing up!

Quite a few milestones hit at around six months and Scarlett seems to have left infancy in her tracks in a matter of days.

She finds looking around much more interesting than nursing so I have decided to express milk and feed her from a bottle to ensure she gets enough. Which means that we're now on the road to weaning. She has also started to eat some 'solids' (mashed banana and rice cereal so far). I'm sure she's finding it much easier to bite through that goop with the new tooth that appeared last week!

It's great to see her hitting all these milestones. Can't help but feel slightly nostalgic though ...

Here's a picture of Scarlett and her young friend Anna taken by Anna's mummy Karin.

No peace for the wicked

I sat my end of term exam last Thursday and it was a horrible experience. It was like living the recurring nightmare where I had a literature exam the next day and hadn't even read the book. I am fiercely against exams partly because I am just terrible at them but mostly because it does nothing to prove ability to apply new found knowledge.

So I had the weekend to recover and now it's back to the classroom. This term it's Online and Distributed learning. I'm already much happier because a) there's no exam (hurray!) and b)there is already quite lively use of the course discussion board so I'm hoping that it will be quite an interactive term.

Where there's a will ...

One of the most frequently asked questions when we returned from three weeks in Europe with (shock, horror) no nanny was "How was it travelling with two kids?".

The short answer is that it was absolutely fine. Perhaps our expectations of the experience were so low that we could only be pleasantly surprised or maybe our kids are exceptionally well behaved (!). In any case, we found that a positive attitude works wonders.

One evening we found ourselves walking the streets on a rainy evening with two sleeping children in our arms looking for a restaurant that was not full. Our search finally paid off and the picture shows me celebrating with a yummy margarita surrounded by sleeping beauties!

Luc is "wild" about cars!

If you've ever spent any time with Luc, you know that he can name any make of car from 100m away and just by looking at the wheels. Much of his knowledge comes from his growing collection of car magazines.

This morning I was on the computer and Luc was flicking through one of his magazines at breakneck speed. I then became aware that he'd stopped turning the pages. Wondering whether he had stopped to admire a picture of a Ferrari, a Smart car or perhaps a Jaguar. I looked up from my screen to check out the object of this prolonged attention. Imagine my surprise when I discovered he had been staring (complete with mischievous smile) at a full page ad for the latest "Girls Gone Wild" dvd....

Here's a photo of Luc at an auto show in Paris recently.

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!

At the tender age of 5.5 months, Scarlett's witch from the islands costume won her a fancy dress prize this week. Here she is with her proud mum.

Life is a highway ....

"Life is a highway..." according to one of the song's in Luc's favourite movie, Cars. We certainly wouldn't have disagreed with that on our recent trip to Europe which has us drive 13 hours from Budapest, Hungary to Sigisoara, Romania. Our two little travel bugs coped fantastically.
I will post some photos soon but in the meantime highlights from our trip (which began with a week in our beloved Paris) include:

* Aunt Violet finding a relative in the Transylvanian town she born in.
* Watching waiters' jaws drop when we asked for a table. At one stage we numbered 18 with ages ranging from 5 months to 80 yrs.
* Champagne boat trip on the Danube. The best part was that the moon's reflection on the water pacified a fussy Scarlett.
* Meeting up with so many old friends in Paris and Budapest many of whom have also had new babies since we last saw them.
* Somloi Galushka at the Fatal restaurant Budapest. Hungary's answer to tiramisu is so-so except at this restaurant that is not only served in an enormous serving bowl but is absolutely delicious. I had it 3 times in 4 days!
* Spending time with the US family and Luc hanging out with his cousins.
* Eating wine and cheese in France. It just doesn't taste the same anywhere else.
* Visting local food market in Paris. My first morning in Paris, I went out to look for a supermarket but stumbled upon the fantastic Boulevard de Grenelle Sunday market. Reminded me of the best thing about living in Paris ... the love of food.

Not so high lights:
* Severe jetlag on return
* Snotty waiters in Budapest. I think they went to the same finishing school as some Parisian waiters.
* That road trip

We are the champions!

Bart recently led a Philippines all-star Ultimate team (Pula, meaning "red") to victory in the men's division of the largest annual regional tournament, held in Singapore.

It was the first time that a Philippine team has won a competition in the sport abroad. There are now hundreds of teams up and down East Asia competing in this growing sport.

Bart served as player-coach of the 14-man squad, which was all Filipino save for him and one other pale-face from the States residing in these islands. As you can see, Bart was rather pleased!

Here is his team (Bart was off somewhere drinking that beer!):

Strike a Pose!

A Marketer's Dream

I think my first real movie craze was Grease when I was 8 yrs old. Just to prove how fast kids grow up these days, young Luc is already obsessed with Cars the Movie and he has a full blown crush on Sally (the cute Porsche). Word has spread and now Cars merchandise from his family all over the world has made its way into his little hands. I hate the thought of being the ultimate marketers dream but then again all his stuff makes him so happy and at least he doesn't have photos of Lindsay Lohan all over his wall!

Bowling for Manila

Luc and his classmates (plus tag along mummies) went bowling today. Luckily, he's not yet at the age where he's embarrased by silly things his parents do because he would have disowned me when I slipped and fell flat on my behind trying to chase a bowling ball down a very greasy bowling lane!! He was rather concerned about me after that which was rather touching and proceeded to ask me "are you ok?" every few minutes. Luc definitely has his own style; it was his kicking the bowling ball that led to my icescapades audition. But I think he actually might have won (I say 'think' because we absentmindedly forgot to check the screen at the end!!).

Hand Signals

Lately, Scarlett has discovered her hands and feet. She spends many happy moments staring at her hands and scrunching them together. If only we were all so easily amused!

Conflict Resoluton

My current masters degree course (Information Systems for Managers) is presenting me with challenges and conflicts on many levels. From a logistical perspective, I'm trying to find my groove in terms of scheduling productive study time (as opposed to staring at the page of a text book) alongside feeding time (necessary) and play time (voluntary). There's no quick fix for this and I just have to be mindful on a daily basis of the different pulls on my time.

The more troubing conflict is the approach to learning and assessment of the course itself. 75% of this unit will be awarded on the basis of a written exam taken at the end of this semester whereas my previous courses have been 100% assessment based. The idea of this terrifies me. Apart from the fact that only time I write is to sign credit card slips, the approach frustrates me as it contradicts my fundamental learning philosophy. Learning theory has evolved so much in the past 10 years that the concept of memerising facts and regurgitating them in a stressful timed situation seems all but archaic to me.

My learning theory guru, George Siemens, wrote recently;

... much of our learning is a connection-forming process (the conduit, not content, is what is king) where we add new elements that augment our capacity to know more. We rely on Google, libraries, friends, social bookmarks/tags, etc. to serve as our personal learning network (we store the knowledge external to ourselves). When we need something, we go to our network (know-where is more important than know-how or know-what)...or we expand our network. In the end, the constant act of connecting in order to stay current is a much more reflective model of learning ...

I couldn't agree more. Assuming I do manage to memorise enough relevant facts in order to pas the exam, there is no gurantee that I will I have made my "personal learning network" which will enable me to continue to learn about Infomation Systems.

Convenience Shores

Now that we have two young kids, gone are the weekends of white water rafting and trekking through remote jungles. OK, so we didn't do that Before Kids (BK) either but the point is that we could have!

We can now seek out destinations that involve large doses of relaxation without the guilty feeling that we should be doing something more active like diving with killer sharks. With this in mind, we recently spent four days on an island called Mactan, a one hour flight from Manila, at a manmade plantation style resort that boasts "one of the largest privately-owned waterways in the world". There indeed seemed to be water and pools everywhere. Our room overlooked a huge (filtered) saltwater 'lagoon' with an asphalt bottom that is drained and refilled every week. The 'beaches' surrounding the lagoons have the cleanest most perfect sand. Noticeably absent are sand creatures or washed up diapers. The 'diving rock' appeared to be made from plaster of Paris and would not look out of place at Disneyland.

Despite the un-naturalness of the place (or perhaps because of it), we had a really nice time. The service was probably the best we've experienced certainly in the Philippines and perhaps at any resort-type establishment. There is a strict no-tipping policy so you know that staff are not just being polite and helpful in the hope that you'll slip them a note and the food was very decent. Although the resort was supposedly full, somehow we never felt that there were many people around.

Mother Nature did provide the finishing touch though ... four days of almost unbroken sunshine. It made such a lovely change from Manila where it has been raining for so long that Scarlett had never seen the sun.

Anyway, enough words, now for some pictures:

Is Luc too young for a tatoo?

Last weekend we hosted a big barbecue party. The fun started around 3pm with the last revellers being shown the door 1am! I was worried that the kids would be bored so we brought in a 'tatoo artist' for the afternoon. He was a big hit. Here is Luc getting a dragon painted on his arm.

Angels

Don't they look cute napping together on the couch?!

Check out how curly Scarlett's hair is getting. Her mummy is very envious!

Beckham avoids paparazzi

Note: For those of you on distant shores, this clip gives you a sneak peak of our dining and living rooms.

Getting to know you

It's pointless rushing Luc to do anything. He does everything on his own terms when good and ready. Once he decided to walk at 13 months, that was it with barely a stumble. The same went for potty training.

No surprise then that he has waited until now to start taking notice of his sister. Their relationship is still a work in progress but he now talks to her (if you count telling her to stop crying because he can't hear the tv) and he even tries to interest her in his beloved car magazines.

Watch what you say!

Luc's bedtime ritual includes a couple of minutes after lights out where we talk about what the next day holds in store for him.

Recently, during one of these conversations, we were lying down and I told a sleepy boy, "You're going to wake up, get dressed, have breakfast, drive to school ...". Luc sat up straight in bed and asked "I'm going to drive to school?".

The heat is on

When it gets too hot playing in the garden, what fun to cool down with the sprinkler.

Got milk!

Look who's talking!

I asked Scarlett to say a few words to her growing fan base. Here's what she said:

Nobody said it was easy!

This entry has a dual purpose. Firstly, I'm experimenting how to upload video clips to the blog and secondly to let you hear Luc's favourite song at the moment. After our trip to Hong Kong, we were listening to Coldplay alot. Then one day out of the blue Luc started to sing 'Nobody said it was easy!'.

P.S. It's a very clever video!

July

During my sister, Bo's, recent visit to our side of the world, we made a trip to Hong Kong to Luc and Scarlett's great grandmother. We stayed at the luxurious residence of our newly engaged pals, Deebs and Mei. Luc's highlight of the trip was Ocean Park where he experienced his first thrill ride, a log flume journey that ends with a steep drop and a big splash!! Our highlight was a brilliant Coldplay concert.

Also in July, our friend Ha and her little girl Vy visited us during their month long stay in Singapore. Luc and Vy got along great and he misses her lots. The picture shows them playing in the playroom.

 
 
 
  
 
 
 

Hungry and the Caterpillar

Measuring Scarlett up against her caterpillar (60cm) reminds me of one of Luc's favourite stories, The Hungry Caterpillar. She has always been a great eater and yesterday's 2 month check-up showed me just how good. She is up to 75th percentile for weight which means that 75% of babies her age weight less than she does. She has chubby cheeks and thighs that we love to squash! Luc, on the other hand, is as thin as a toothpick. I expressed my concern to the doctor who told me not to worry so much as Luc is rarely sick and has lots of energy. As they grow up I wonder whether they'll be complete opposites in other ways too ...

They think it's all over ...

... it is now! Well, at least for the next four years.

After each world cup campaign, I determine not to get emotionally involved in the efforts of the England team because they inevitably come to nought. I will of course have forgotten the feelings of disappointment by the time the next finals take place in South Africa and will dust off my flag and face paints, ready to board the emotional roller-coaster all over again. For now though, Luc and I still mourn the early exit of Becks et al taking little consolation in the oft heard claim that it could have been ours.

Happy Birthday!

Luc turned 3 today and we did something we avoided the last 2 birthdays, we threw him a birthday party. So 20 of his closest friends were invited to the Little Gym jump, run and somersault their way through 45 minutes. They then toyed with snacks that we had spent 3 days preparing (!) and were sent home armed with the obligatory goody bag. Everyone was happy especially Luc who was thrilled that Elmo came too.

Like a leap year

The world cup takes over every four years and depending on the number of time zones away from the action you are, it can literally turn your lives upside down.

Viewing times for matches here in Manila have been 9pm, 12am and 3am. I have only been up once at 3am to watch England play Sweden. They were apparently thinking of me during the 2nd half by putting in such a boring performance that I could sleep and not miss a thing. Add to the football mix a month old baby and a move to a new house and you have a recipe for what Bart has termed "the most surreal month of my life".

Scarlett or 'Lula' as most of us still refer to her is getting into the World Cup spirit of things by doing a very good impression of a football herself (pics coming soon).

Sunday Brunch

Finding a restaurant that caters to our evolving needs (good food, distraction for Luc, space for large stroller) is a rarity. That's why we were very happy to be introduced to sunday brunch at one of the 5 star hotels in Manila. It has was they call "theatre cuisine" which is essentially a huge buffet but the food at the stations organised by cuisine is largely cooked before your eyes. It was nice to go, eat and not worry about the indigestion I suffered whilst pregnant. Oh and the champagne "a volonte" is a nice touch too!

After brunch we strolled in the gardens and took our first family photo since Scarlett was born.

Business as Usual

Overall, Luc is adjusting well to his new sister's arrival. We are very lucky to have our nanny, Beth, who can spend time with him doing his favorite activities. Here he is doing some painting.

Wanted!

Believe it or not this is the photo that immigration officers the world over will identify Scarlett by for the next FIVE years!!

Gender Issues

If there's one thing that the Philippine people have mastered, it's the art of reproducing. The average square mile must have one of the highest ratios of pregnant woman in the world.

While I was pregnant, random people would announce that I was having a boy/girl based on the width of my nose, whether I was prettier than before I was pregnant, the shape of my bump etc.. What baffles me now is that despite this great insight into pre-natal gender prediction, when I take Scarlett out and she is wearing the obligatory baby-girl pink, I constantly get asked whether it's a boy or a girl. Go figure!

Proof of Life

Scarlett, 11 days

At the ripe old age of 13 days, our little Scarlett is finally showing signs of emerging from her post-delivery stupor. Just when I was getting used to resorting to cold towels and blowing on her face to keep her awake long enough to feed, she now not only stays awake during meals but for a while afterwards. It's fun watching her trying to focus on objects and listen to her gurgles. Now more than ever, she reminds me of when Luc was an infant, especially as she is wearing some of the same clothes.


Luc, 11 days

For the past couple of days, I've been picking Luc up from school on my own and taken him to run some errand or other just the two of us (one of the luxurious affordances of having full-time help at home). He seems to enjoy our brief outings together and actually seems pleased to be reunited with his sister on our return home.

Luc warm

For months we had been wondering how Luc would react to the arrival of his little sister. Would he try to jump on her every time our backs were turned or would he immediately become the doting big brother. We bought storybooks whose central theme was the birth of the main protagonists sibling, we talked about her and even gave her a nickname. In the end, I would say that his reaction was initially one of denial and has progressed to what seems to be a growing interest in Scarlett (her almost constant comatose state notwithstanding). He has yet to accept offers to hold her but he does like to stay with us while she nurses and even asks where she is when I pick him up from school solo.

Scarlett's arrival has also affected him on a subconsious level. He is more weepy than usual and has taken to waking up at ridiculously early hours. Friends tell me that this is normal, it's just a passing phase and that all we can do is show him as much love and affection as possible. So far, seems to be working!

Changing direction and nappies

Recently my Community of Practice focus has switched from innovations in Education Technology to breastfeeding tips and techniques. Scarlett Ann Rosalie was born May 4 which was almost 2 weeks before her due date and 1 week before the c-section that we had carefully planned for her to ensure that her daddy could attend. Best laid plans etc.etc. meant that Bart missed the whole hospital experience and returned from his work trip to India to find his new daughter already installed at home.

For some reason, we like to live from one milestone to another. My milestone for starting to blog again was going to be Mothers Day but of course that day came and went. So today has the milestone of being the day when little Scarlett's remaining umbilical cord fell off (making quite an impressive thud as it fell to the floor I might add). Her dried up cord stump made a hasty exit via the rubbish bin this morning because while the milestone is a cute one, the evidence is not!